Street Fighter II' Hyper FightingXbox 360)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.7 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Greg Kasavin
• Reviewed on: 08/02/2006
• Updated on: 08/03/2006
• Released on: 08/02/2006
• Originally published on GameSpot: Street Fighter II' Hyper FightingXbox 360) Review

From the moment it appeared in arcades all over the world in 1991, Street Fighter II was hailed as a groundbreaking, revolutionary game. The concept itself was unoriginal, as a number of previous games had pitted players against each other in one-on-one martial-arts brawls. But Street Fighter II took the concept to a whole new level. It introduced a wildly diverse cast of interesting characters who played as differently as they looked and delivered gameplay that was so precise and so deep that the experience became a revelation for millions of video game fans. Following that success, Capcom proceeded to release couple of upgrades that fixed a few bugs and honed the balance and speed of the gameplay to perfection. The result was 1992's Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting. Now Hyper Fighting is available as part of the Xbox 360's growing number of downloadable Xbox Live Arcade games. While it's a close translation of the arcade original, some frustrating inaccuracies, a slipshod presentation, and a flaky online mode undermine a lot of this version's amazing potential.

The result is a serviceable trip down memory lane, which older players might enjoy for nostalgia's sake since Street Fighter II was so ubiquitous in the early-to-mid-'90s. However, the game's legions of longtime devotees looking for an excuse to get back into the competitive spirit of Street Fighter II's heyday will find that this version's various shortcomings deal a lot of damage to the overall experience. You can still have fun practicing your best moves and combos either against the remarkably tough artificial intelligence (which puts up a vicious fight even at the default difficulty setting) or against a friend sitting next to you in your living room. But the game's online mode is where its greatest promise lies, and between the shaky online performance and convoluted player-matching system, there are just too many hurdles involved in having a satisfying time squaring off against live competition.

Street Fighter II is the archetypal one-on-one fighting game and at first glance, this version is an arcade-perfect translation. All 12 of the world warriors are in here, including iconic characters like Ryu, Chun-Li, and Guile. Each character plays differently, and even seemingly similar characters like Ryu and Ken still have nuances that set them apart from a gameplay standpoint. What's more, despite the passage of time, the various punches and kicks in this game still look and sound like they pack a wallop. Moves like Zangief's spinning pile driver or Sagat's tiger uppercut might well make you wince every time you're on the receiving end. As a result, even if you don't really know your way around the game's fairly complicated moves and combos, you can still get a kick out of randomly attacking your foe. Back in the day, it was this high-quality presentation that drew so many players into the fold in the first place, and they stuck around when they found an incredibly deep and addictive game underneath it all.

Unfortunately, the ultraprecise control of the arcade original doesn't quite translate to the Xbox 360's controller, which understandably wasn't conceived with 2D fighting games in mind. The main culprit is the directional pad, which feels a little too stiff for this type of game. The left analog stick works quite well as an alternative, but either way, those who used to pull off three-hit combos practically with their eyes closed should expect to take some time to adjust. The first thing they should adjust, though, is the controller vibration setting in the options. The vibration effect is on by default and causes your controller to shake violently for reasons that often don't clearly relate to the action onscreen.

The game's small number of modes mostly consist of what you'd expect. Offline, you can fight your way past computer-controlled opponents up to a final confrontation against M. Bison. Each character has a unique ending, and some of the game's unlockable achievements revolve around finishing the single-player mode without giving up any rounds or matches, so this activity can easily keep you busy for a while. There's also an unlockable versus-CPU mode that pits you against an overpowered computer-controlled fighter, but it's nothing special. A two-player versus mode and a training mode for practicing your moves are also present. The various online options are more interesting, but they're also more problematic in a lot of cases.

Online, you can choose to participate in random ranked matches or go into unranked matches against your friends. Ranked matches are "for real" and contribute to your overall standings against all other players. Several of the game's unlockable achievements give you reason to play and win in this mode, though we found that just getting connected to an opponent could be surprisingly difficult. Attempts to get into a match would time out more often than not, and it's not possible to ask for a rematch in this mode. The character-select process is also strangely clunky, so as a result of all this, you may wind up spending almost as much time trying to get into a match than actually playing in one. Thankfully, we found that by creating a match rather than trying to join one, we'd consistently find a willing opponent fairly quickly. The game also pits both fighters in a randomly selected stage, which is better than getting stuck on Dhalsim's or M. Bison's stage for match after match as would often happen in the arcades.

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